UPDATE: Law enforcement has charged John Benton Lewis with the murder of his wife. He is still in jail and bail has been set at $1,000,000.

Carla Jean Lewis, 55, was shot in her Niles, MI home. She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Berrien County Sheriff Department.

Police officers arrived at the home at approximately 5:56 p.m. The caller who reported the crime was the victim’s husband, 49-year-old, John Benton Lewis. Mr. Lewis told 911 operators that unknown subjects had entered the residence and shot his wife in the basement of their house.

The vehicle has a Michigan Registration of (CMY 3721) and has been entered as a stolen. Anyone who has information as to the whereabouts of this vehicle is asked to contact the police immediately and any occupants are to be considered armed and extremely dangerous. This incident remains under investigation by the Berrien County Sherriff’s Office, Berrien County Homicide Task Force and the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force. The Michigan State Police Crime Lab was called in to process the scene for any forensic evidence.

During the course of the police investigation, officers found that John Lewis was not in compliance with Michigan’s Medical Marijuana Act. He is lodged at the Berrien County Jail for the technical violation.

This murder remains under investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office at (269) 983-7141.

2 Comments

This incident shows the imbalance of rational thought in Michigan Government and Law Enforcement. The police should be protecting legal marijuana growers who are treated worse than criminals by police who do not like the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act voted in by the People. Marijuana growers are an easy bust, little danger of being shot or physically challenged, and easy to take their money or property. Governor Snyder, Bill Shuette, the State Police and County Sheriffs, and their very cooperative Court system are ever ready to prey on a marijuana grower; face it, there’s not much money to be had by those people by catching a murderer.

It only goes to prove that “LEGALIZATION” is NOT created to ‘serve & protect’ those vulnerable communities, but is really just another form of government TAX GRAB & money laundering, no doubt to justify their terrorist-style police budgets…

You gave excellent reasons that cannabis growers ( and consumers) are an “easy bust” – yes it is easy to harass & intimidate sick, traumatized people using “laws” designed against them, just study Nazi Germany. Which is my point exactly… Everything Hitler did was “legal.”

To effectively END cannabis prohibition (ie the so-called ‘war on drugs’), the people must ABROGATE ( get rid of) all cannabis prohibition laws, except two: don’t sell to minors without parental knowledge & consent, and make it illegal to contaminate this plant with noxious chemicals for profit. That’s how we stop criminals. All the hype is not about preventing or stopping crime, it’s about money.

Legalization only promises “some” people privileges that other communities can ‘ill’ afford, pun intended.

Thankfully, America has seen this before, once as a Tea Tax in Boston, and it made all the difference as to who ran the country from then on… 😉